The Bestiary

May 21, 2007
In Christopher's magical fifth novel, a sympathetic history teacher takes an interest in quiet, studious Xeno Atlas, who has developed a burning interest in real and imaginary animals. “I first heard of the Caravan Bestiary
when I was fifteen years old, and it changed the course of my life,” Xeno declares. The young man undertakes a quest to find the ancient manuscript, which describes animals left off Noah's Ark (including the “Catoblepas,” a white bird with divining powers) and was assumed lost many years ago. The search entails an around-the-world journey, wherein Xeno learns the answers to long-standing family mysteries, uncovers a wealth of lost knowledge and finds true love with his best friend's sister, the lovely Lena Moretti. Christopher (A Trip to the Stars
) also saddles his protagonist with a dead mother; a mysterious, perpetually grieving, peripatetic father; a shape-shifting shamanistic grandmother; and a lonely, troubled childhood. His evocative prose yields a narrative loaded with fascinating arcana and intriguing characters.

May 1, 2007
As in "A Trip to the Stars", Christopher here blends intriguingly detailed esoterica with a contemporary coming-of-age story that recalls Sixties excess and anguish to create a distinctive reading experience. Xeno Atlas, whose seafaring father barely puts in an appearance after Xeno's mother dies in childbirth, is raised mostly by a grandmother who claims among her Sicilian forebears a witch who could commune with animals. With only brilliant but disabled friend Bruno and his sister, Lena, as friends, odd-boy-out Xeno manages to get by until his grandmother's death, when he's shipped off to boarding school in Maine. There a teacher tells him about the "Caravan Bestiary", a lost medieval text reputedly depicting the animals that didn't make it onto Noah's Ark. Afterward, through the hell of Vietnam and the years determinedly spent as an independent scholar, Xeno pursues the bestiary and in the end finds something differentmaybe even love. Sometimes the magic and the realism don't quite blend, and after all the excitement of the chase, the ending doesn't quite satisfy. As a whole, however, this is a charmed and charming read, compelling in its knowledge, graceful prose, and underlying concern for the animal world. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 3/1/07.]Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2007
Influenced by his grandmothers fanciful bedtime stories, punctuated by realistic animal sounds, Xeno Atlas is fascinated by animal lore and mythological beasts. A lonely boy stuck in a dysfunctional-mold-breaking familya dead mother, an estranged uncle, a shape-shifting grandmother, and an uncommunicative, absentee fatherXeno eschews childhood pastimes, pursuing instead scholarly clues to an ancient Caravan Bestiary: an illuminated record of animals denied passage on Noahs Ark. Over time, Xeno increasingly identifies with these misunderstood, extinct, and imaginary animals (even creating some of his own), preferring dragons and hippogryphs to beastly humans. His adult travels take him full circle to his Cretan ancestral roots and to unexpected answers, finally tying up the storys vexatious loose ends. Despite the authors signature use of magic realism, tantalizing references to a rich spiritual plane, a wounded hero, and a lost manuscript, the novels potential falls somewhat flat under the weight of its leisurely pace and overabundant detail, lacking the emotive power of Byatts Possession or the atmospheric tension of Zafons Shadow of the Wind. Still, readers of those and similar works will find some satisfaction here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)